This invention relates in general to aircraft and more particularly to a lighter-than-air aircraft.
The transportation system of this country offers a variety of conveyances for moving goods and passengers from one location to another, and the conveyance one chooses to a large measure depends on what is to be transported and the origin and destination of the trip. Certainly, fixed wing aircraft constitute the quickest practical mode of delivering goods and passengers from one location to another, provided that each location has a suitable airport, but airports capable of accommodating large fixed wing aircraft are widely dispersed, leaving many regions of the country without access to this mode of transportation. Railroads, while passing through many communities, have transfer facilities only at scattered locations. Boats and ships of course only service ports having adequate docking facilities. Trucks and passenger vehicles can service any location to which a road leads, but the capacities of these conveyances are limited.
The present invention resides in a large lighter-than-air aircraft which has the capacity to carry large cargo or numerous passengers over both land and sea and to receive and discharge such cargoes at practically any cleared site of modest size. It includes a platform to which a pair of upper gas bags and a pair of lower gas bags are attached, and these bags contain a gas having a density less than air so that the bags impart lift to the platform. The platform has bays which hold containers and also has ducts in which propellers and motors are located to impart a vertically directed force to the platform. Along the sides of the platform nacelles are attached, and they contain propellers and motors for propelling the aircraft forwardly.